The news that Sugano Sensei has passed away has hit me harder than I
expected. Sensei’s teaching is very important to my understanding of
Aikido and I am very grateful for his attention and efforts.
Sugano Sensei awarded me my sankyu rank. He was teaching a seminar in
Atlanta where dan grade tests were planned but there was a last minute
change and several of us found out in the morning that we would be
testing that afternoon. We only had a few minutes between classes to
prepare. Chris Rozzet and I tested together and Sensei made us go
through all gokyu and yonkyu requirements first, so the test was extra
long. Sensei emphasized understanding omote and ura directions and
attention to details of pins. I remember doing sankyo ura starting
with an omote movement. Sensei made me do it again and again calling
out “ura! ura!” repeatedly until I understood. It was a difficult and
memorable test and I appreciated his attention. I liked the feeling
that I earned that rank.
This experience endeared Sugano Sensei to me and I paid special
attention to his teaching after this. I appreciated Sensei’s direct
teaching methods. It was always clear what he thought was important.
There was also a sense of spiritual seriousness in his manner that
appealed to me. When I decided to become a live-in student in NY
Aikikai, I was excited that I would have the chance to train more with
him.
Sensei teaching schedule in NY Aikikai at that time was five days a
week, two hours a day. This made him the most frequent instructor.
He did often travel to teach, but he preferred going for weeks at a
time instead of almost every weekend the way Yanada Sensei does.
Because of this frequent contact, he was very influential for me. His
teaching manner was different in daily training from seminars; he
focused on very basic techniques and rarely stopped to explain
details. His classes felt almost like religious ceremonies, starting
with misogi, wordlessly demonstrating very basic techniques that we
practiced by rote, closing with a moment of meditation before bowing
out. I appreciated this teaching method because it gave it a chance
for mastery. A much more typical way to teach is to try to constantly
give new information to the students for fear they might get bored
with the basics. I remember a week were Sensei began every class with
several minutes of tai-no-henko. I gained insights from this
repetition that no amount of explanation could have given me. I don’t
remember being bored by the repetition even when I could predict what
he would do next. Sensei’s presentation gave a feeling of spontaneity
and excitement that kept me engaged.
I remember the first time that Sensei used me for ukemi. He had such
complete control of the situation that I was constantly off balance
trying to keep up with his movement. When it was over people were
laughing because of my obvious confusion. Later I learned more of
what was expected of me when taking falls, but I never lost that sense
of his command over me.
Sensei’s teaching emphasized timing and distance and he didn’t often
talk about kokyu. However I was always greatly impressed with his
power and his conditioning. When he was teaching kaeshiwaza (he
didn’t only teach basics), I had to attempt to apply ikkyo on him so
that he could counter. It felt like I was trying to move a log! His
arm was so strong and his balance was so firm that it seemed hopeless
to attempt the technique (he clearly let me apply for the sake of the
demonstration). His movements were flowing but vigorous and became a
model for what I have tried to achieve in my own practice. He rarely
showed static technique and would explain that static training was to
learn what to do but left out when to do it.
Those of us living in the dojo would frequently go to lunch with
Sensei Sunday afternoons after training. We would go to Souen,
his favorite macrobiotic restaurant. Sensei was often quiet at these
lunches, but clearly enjoyed listening to our conversation. We would
try to draw him out with questions and discovered that he liked to
talk about the foods and cultures of the various places that he lived.
We could sometimes get him to discuss his time in Hombu and his
impressions of the teachers at that time and training with O Sensei.
These occasions had a family atmosphere where Sensei played the role
of the quiet father enjoying the antics of the young people.
Occasionally we would go to a movie after lunch. We saw The
Rock together and he praised it as having all the elements of a
great movie. He enjoyed action movies with a classic style. The
Wild Bunch was a favorite. Brian once suggested a movie playing at
the Angelika which turned out to be The Addiction an arty
vampire movie staring Christopher Walken and Lili Taylor. This was not
Sensei’s kind of movie (I can’t say it was mine either).
After I left New York, my busy life kept me from visiting much and I
saw Sensei only at seminars where it is difficult to maintain the
natural closeness that I felt while living in the dojo. Sensei’s
methods of teaching became very important to me when I started
teaching in Atlanta and I have consistently opened class with a warm
up based on the way Sensei would start class when I was in New York.
I don’t try to mimic his movements, but I do try to keep the sense of
seriousness that he brought to training. I don’t fear boring my
students with basics as I know that I still feel challenged by them
knowing that I still fail to have the degree of control and power that
Sensei modeled for us.
Now Sugano Sensei is gone. There are many other people with closer
student/teacher relationships with him than I and no one is looking to
me to carry on his teachings. Others are in a better position to do
that. I can only carry on with my training and hope that people will
find some small reflection of his efforts in my actions. I hope that
this brings good memories to others that knew and loved Sensei as I
did.